Boota Singh

Boota Singh (Gurmukhi: ਬੂਟਾ ਸਿੰਘ; Shahmukhi: بُوٹا سنگھ), sometimes spelled as Buta Singh, was a Sikh ex-soldier of the British Army who served at the Burma front under the command of Lord Mountbatten during World War II.^[1] He is very well known in India and Pakistan for his tragic love story with Zainab, a Muslim girl he rescued during the communal riots in the time of partition of India in 1947.^[1] Both fell in love and got married. Later, being a Muslim, Zainab is deported and sent to the newly born Pakistan. Boota illegally enters Pakistan and when the girl backed off under the pressure from her family, he commits suicide by jumping before an upcoming train near Shahdara station in Pakistan along with his daughter but she survived.^[2]

The love story of Singh's life is widely adapted in films and books on both sides of the border. A Punjabi film Shaheed-e-Mohabbat Boota Singh (1999) is entirely based on the story.^[1] Ishrat Rahmani wrote a novel, Muhabbat, based on the story. The story also influenced many other films including a 2007 Canadian film Partition^[1] and a 2001 Bollywood film Gadar.^[3]

Personal life

Singh lived in a village of Jalandhar district in British Punjab. When he returned home from the Burma front, his youth was over. All his friends of the same age were married with but he was still unmarried, unable to find a woman to marry him. A trader assured Singh that he could buy him a bride from U.P. or Bihar for rupees 2000/-. From that day onward, he started saving every penny for the dowry.

His uncle and cousins were hoping he would die unmarried so they could inherit his land.

Burial

In his suicide note, Singh expressed his last wish to be buried in Barki village where Zainab's parents resettled after partition. The autopsy of Singh's body was conducted in an hospital in Lahore and was taken to the village on 22 February 1957 for burial but the villagers didn't allow that and Singh was buried at Miani Sahib, the largest graveyard of Lahore.^[4]

In popular culture

In 1999, Manoj Punj directed a Punjabi feature film, Shaheed-e-Mohabbat Boota Singh, entirely based on the life story of Boota Singh.^[1] The movie stars Gurdas Maan as Boota Singh and Divya Dutta as Zainab. The music was composed by Amar Haldipur. It was an international hit and won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Punjabi at the 46th National Film Awards and was also screened at many national and international film festivals including the 1999 Vancouver International Film Festival and International Film Festival of India. Ishrat Rahmani wrote a novel on the love story, titled Muhabbat. The story is also have some details in an English book, Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre and also influenced a 2007 Hollywood film, Partition, written by Patrica Finn and Vic Sarin, starring Jimi Mistry and Kristin Kreuk in lead roles.

References